Row planters are commonly used throughout the world for planting a wide variety of seeds under a wide variety of soil conditions. Typically, row planters perform the steps of initially opening the furrow which often includes trash cutting (i.e., old stalks, roots, stubble), forming the furrow, dropping the seed into the furrow, and then covering the seed with soil. Each of these steps can be accomplished in a number of ways using an almost infinite variety of structures and combinations of structures. Other steps such as fertilizing can be included in the row planter and in some instances, the same structure can be used to perform two or more of the basic steps outlined above.
Among the more desirable characteristics of a row planter are uniform operation particularly as its relates to seed planting, depth and spacing and the ease and accuracy with which the depth of the furrow can be adjusted to meet differing soil conditions and to adapt the row planter for use with different seeds. It was with these particular traits of uniform operation and ease and accuracy of furrow depth adjustment in mind that the present invention was developed and particularly adapted to row planters which use rotating discs to initially open the furrow and shoes to complete the formation of the furrow.